Damián Ortega

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Damián Ortega (* 1967 in Mexico City ) is a Mexican artist best known for his installations such as Cosmic Thing , in which he dismantled a complete VW Beetle and hung it up in individual parts, as well as for photographs and film works. Ortega has lived in Berlin since 2006 and exhibits his installations internationally.

life and work

Damián Ortega
(external web links)

Damián Ortega was born in 1967 in the capital of Mexico, Mexico City. At the age of 16 he left his parents' home and went to apprenticeship with various sculptors and cartoonists while he financed himself through odd jobs. He lived in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, as well as in his hometown Mexico City. He began his artistic career as a political cartoonist . At the same time he started his first artistic work by creating sculptures, installations and videos. He describes the Mexican artist Diego Rivera as one of his main influences . As objects he mainly used tangible everyday objects such as tools, golf balls, bricks or tortillas .

His international career began around 1998 with his first solo and group exhibitions. In 2002 he exhibited his works at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and in the same year at the 50th Biennale di Venezia , where he presented his work Cosmic Thing in the Arsenal and thus achieved the final breakthrough. This is a dismantled VW Beetle from 1983, which is hung in individual parts from the ceiling and thus converted into a work of art. Another work by Ortega at the Biennale entitled Movimento en Falso from 2000 consisted of three oil barrels towered over the edge, which slowly rotated on their own axis. Numerous other exhibitions followed, including a. in the Kunsthalle Basel (2004) as the first major exhibition in Europe, in the Museu da Arte Pampulha , Belo Horizonte in Brazil (2005), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (2005), the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London (2005 ) and the São Paulo Biennial (2006).

In 2006/2007 Ortega received a scholarship from the DAAD's Berlin artist program and in 2007 presented his work Man is the controller of the universe in the associated DAAD gallery . The installation consists of a cloud of old tools that Ortega bought and grouped together at Berlin flea markets. Ortega has lived and worked in Berlin since 2006, and in 2007 he was nominated for the Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art , endowed with 50,000 euros .

literature

  • Damián Ortega: Survival of the idea, failure of the object . Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2007 ISBN 978-3-7757-2075-5 .
  • Paolo Bianchi: The changed everyday life . In: Kunstforum International . Vol. 166 August - October 2003: 50th Venice Biennale . In it on Damián Ortega: pp. 186–188; P. 192f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kito Nero: Paris: Damián Ortega. Rumble against melancholy. art Das Kunstmagazin, December 2008.
  2. ↑ Contribution with illustrations by Damián Ortega at Orbit.zkm.de
  3. ↑ Ortega at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2002
  4. ↑ a b c Illustration and portrait at Whitecube.com
  5. ↑ Presentation of the contribution to the New National Gallery of Young Art Prize by Damián Ortega ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.preis2007.de
  6. ^ Presentation of the Obelisco Transportable project at the Public Art Fund, New York
  7. ↑ a b c Portrait at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) .
  8. ↑ Exhibition listing according to artfacts.net ( memento of the original from June 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artfacts.net
  9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.preis2007.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ortega, Damián
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexico City , Mexico